Seth opened his eyes, he was finally back in Chaldea. Exiting the coffin he noticed Fujimaru laying on the ground sleeping with Fou licking his cheeks.
'I almost forgot about him, he rarely showed up after all...' He thought while looking at the weird creature.
"Thanks for your hard work, you did an exemplary job." Dr. Roman congratulated Seth when he saw he was awake.
"I don't need to be thanked, Romani. You should save it for the kids, they were brave enough to face a situation that seemed hopeless despite their young age." He took the Holy Grail and tossed it toward the Doctor.
Catching the wish-granting device, Romani looked at him weirdly. "I have been meaning to ask but...what is your real age?" He asked the man that was walking out of the room.
Stopping for a second, he replied. "More than your real age, that's for sure." And with those words, he left the room leaving a dumbstruck Doctor.
"...tor...Do...or. DOCTOR!" "Huh!?" Romani was brought back to reality by Mash who at this point was shouting in his ear.
"What happened, Doctor? You were kinda frozen there." Fujimaru asked him. When he woke up on the floor — again — the first thing he saw after Fou was Romani just standing there with his mouth open.
"O-Oh...It's nothing to worry about, It must be the heat." Dr. Roman invented an excuse that would have worked if not for the fact that they were on the top of a mountain with snow everywhere and the temperature outside went below zero.
Mash looked at him suspiciously but didn't press the matter any further. Looking around, she didn't see Seth anywhere. "Kuro-san already left?"
"Y-Yeah, he actually woke up before you did." The Doctor answered her question a little awkwardly.
"Nice to see you came back safely." Da Vinci entered the room and handed some records to Roman.
Looking at the papers Da Vinci handed him, Romani's expression brightened. "We did it! France in the 15th Century was properly restored!"
"That's great!" His happiness spread to Mash and Fujimaru. However, Mash's expression didn't remain like that for long. "We didn't find Professor Lev nor a clue about his whereabouts, though..."
The atmosphere became a little more serious. "It's fine, I'm sure sooner or later we will be able to find him. There are still six singularities to go." Dr. Roman reassured the youths.
"Forget about that for now and get some well-deserved rest, you've earned it." Da Vinci said to Mash, Fujimaru, and Saber who had been silent all this time.
"Right, thanks." With a nod of thanks, the trio left the room leaving only Romani, Da Vinci, and some of the staff who were working on monitoring extra data.
...
When Seth left the room, he walked in direction of the Cafeteria. He had to give it to EMIYA, his food was absolutely delicious, probably the best he has ever had.
It didn't take long for him to get there. Different from last time, he knew where to go. Some of the remaining staff members greeted him along the way giving their congratulations on the successful mission. He greeted them back even if he didn't know their names, there will be time for that in the future.
When he entered the Cafeteria, he saw something that made him want to facepalm. Caster was trying to hit on a female staff that clearly looked uncomfortable.
Hearing the door opening, Cu Chulainn looked behind him to see his friend back from the Singularity. Leaving the young woman alone, he walked toward Seth. "Yo! Doing good? I checked the situation from time to time. Man, that was sure hectic." He said while laughing and slapping Seth in the back continuously much to his annoyance.
"I'm fine, I just need some rest. I've put too much stress on this body in the final fight. How about you? Why do I feel like the only thing you have been doing is harassing women all this time?" He went to the counter while still chatting with Cu.
"Of course not, I spent my whole time doing recognizance." Caster looked proud as he said this but by the looks of it, Seth didn't believe it one bit.
"...I may or may have not fooled around a little." He rephrased his previous sentence but it still didn't convince the man next to him.
"Fine fine, I just fooled around this place all the time but can you blame me? I got bored pretty quickly!" Cu Chulainn said while scratching his head embarrassedly. In hindsight, he shouldn't have passed off the opportunity to go like that.
"And who was the one who said he wanted to explore Chaldea?" Seth gave him an unimpressed look. He only complained because he could, not because he deserved to do it.
"That was my mistake, I admit it. Don't get like that, will ya?" At this point, he wasn't even trying to defend himself.
"Everything you have been doing is harassing the female staff, I didn't see you being bored while doing that." When they got to the counter, what greeted them—or better said, greeted Caster was EMIYA's sarcastic remark.
"Shut it, Archer. Why don't you go bother someone else?"
"Oh, is that right? Then I guess I won't bother covering for your sexual harassment with Da Vinci and Dr. Roman, I'm sure they will be happy to return you to the Throne of Heroes."
"Wha—?! That's dirty, you lap dog! And I didn't sexually harass anyone!"
"Hmph. The only dog I see is currently barking in front of me."
"Don't call me a dog!"
"Youngsters, no fights are allowed in the kitchen, am I clear?" The old lady that was in the kitchen the last time Seth was here appeared bringing with her a scary aura that made the two Servants sweat bullets.
"Y-Yes ma'am!" The two did a military salute that made the aged woman laugh a bit. "As long as you understand."
Turning toward Seth, she welcomed him with a smile. "I'm glad that you are back safe and sound. I may not know much about what's going on but I'm happy that you are unharmed."
"Thanks, It's good to be back." He responded with a simple nod. It felt awkward since he didn't have any sort of relation with most of the staff, but he guessed that since they depended on his success to keep surviving, they saw him and Fujimaru as their hope.
"So, what would you like to eat?" The elderly woman asked the man while both Servants just looked away from her. They learned the bad way not to anger her some days ago...
"Something light please, I'm going to sleep after this." He requested the woman before picking a table and sitting together with Cu Chulainn and Archer who for some reason decided to accompany them. Normally he would help with the food but the woman told him not to worry about it and just relax.
"So one resolved, six more to go, huh?" Caster said while looking at the ceiling, all traces of his easy-going nature gone.
"I just hope we can be prepared for what is going to come, thinking one Singularity will become easier than the last is wishful thinking after all." EMIYA folded his arms and closed his eyes. He just hoped the difficulty wouldn't increase so much that they would not be able to do anything.
"Most probably tomorrow we will summon more Servants. If we get anyone helpful, though, that's up to fate." Seth rested his head on top of the table. 'Why do I have the feeling that it's not what is going to happen...'
"As long as we summon someone combat-oriented we will be fine. By the way, I asked the Doctor to show me some footage of the Singularity. You were there in person so do you have any idea what that ring of light is?" EMIYA asked the black-haired man.
At his question, Seth's eyes narrowed slightly. "I have a guess. In my last battle against that weird octopus, I managed to feel something from it. If my guess is proven to be correct, then things will be more difficult. However, unnecessary panic is not what we need and I can be wrong so I prefer not to tell others about it. At least until I can be sure of it."
"Our future sure looks bleak." Cu sighed while rocking back and forth on his chair.
"Here you go, enjoy it." Just then, the woman came with a plate of food for him. Thanking her, he started eating while continuing to chat with the two Servants.
"It's not like Humanity's future looked bright from the beginning." EMIYA commented as he rested his head on his hands. One just had to look at all the hurdles people had to push through in ancient times to make mankind reach the point where it was today.
"Talking from experience?" Caster asked while raising an eyebrow.
"Something like that—" He was interrupted by the sound of the door sliding open. The three looked toward it to see Saber entering the Cafeteria. EMIYA released a sigh of defeat and made his way to the kitchen after getting up.
Seeing the bowman, Artoria's eyes lit up. "Archer, I want—" "Yes, yes. A big ration of junk food, I know." This time it was EMIYA who interrupted her.
Spotting Seth together with Cu Chulainn, she walked toward their table. She was wearing her casual outfit this time instead of her battle dress.
"Oh! If it isn't the Holy Sword user. Want to gain a few pounds?" Caster greeted her with an insult making Saber's forehead gain a tick mark.
"If it isn't the Sage of the Forest. Or should I say, the Dog of the Bushes?" The King of Knights didn't fall back and countered his insult with her venomous tongue.
"Can you two quiet down? I'm trying to eat here." Seth said still enjoying his food. It may not be equal to Archer's cooking, but it was definitely incredible.
"Hmph." With a cold snort, Saber sat down where the bowman was previously. Looking at him, she decided to ask what was on her mind since the last battle. "What was that creature you summoned...Seth?" She said the last part with strange difficulty. She always referred to him as 'you' or any kind of derogative terms that came to her mind due to being people around, but now that there was only Caster who also knew of his identity there was no point in calling him any other way anymore.
"Wait, wait, wait. Do you know who he is?!" Caster asked surprised.
"I thought that was left clear when we fought in that burning city, but what can I expect from someone with a dog's brain." She again insulted where it hurt the most.
Caster was about to retort but he noticed the old lady looking at him from the counter with a smile so he decided to take the insult laying down...for now.
"Apep's Avatar; the Serpent of Chaos; Sun Devourer, etcetera, etcetera." He simply replied while finishing his food. However, he didn't say that it was not so much of an Avatar. Even if the original was much, much bigger.
Saber didn't know much about it but Caster did. To say he was surprised would be an understatement, but remembering who Seth was it somewhat didn't seem that far-fetched to accomplish anymore. That begged the question, though. As far as he knew, in legend, they were mortal enemies. How was it possible that he was able to summon a version of it?
"I will go to sleep now, we will talk tomorrow when it's time to summon some Servants." Getting up, he went to the counter to give back his empty plate to the old lady. Thanking her for the food he made his way out of the Cafeteria.
"You better don't summon that stupid Saint!" Artoria's golden eyes showed a dangerous glint in them. One Singularity had been enough. She did not want to spend more time with that blonde.
"What's gotten into you?" Seth paused mid-exit, looking back at her with a confusion-filled face.
"Nothing." She shortly replied turning her head away from him while clicking her tongue in annoyance. She was stupid for believing him to be somewhat intelligent to understand her reasons.
Shaking his head, he finally exited the Cafeteria to get some well-deserved sleep.
Once he was out, Cu Chulainn turned toward Saber with a smug smile that spelled 'punch me' all over his face. "Oh? Is that jealousy I smell in the air?"
"The only thing you are going to smell is roasted dog meat if you don't shut up." Artoria bared her fangs like a beast at the stupid comment made by Caster. If they weren't in such poor conditions manpower-wise, she would absolutely tear him to shreds.
Cu just kept his annoying smile while raising his arms in mock surrender. "Calm down. It was just a joke, y'know?"
"I assure you my sword piercing your body won't be just a joke." It was hard to keep Excalibur Morgan in its sheath. Extremely hard.
"Ahem...it's prohibited to fight in the kitchen so please don't do it or there won't be more food for you." Saber turned her head to see an old lady smiling while a Hannya mask manifested behind her.
"Kuh! This is extortion..." She said but still complied, the threat of losing her food was too much for her to bear.
Meanwhile, Caster was enjoying this thoroughly. It was truly great when it happened to other people.
'I can't believe he gets away with the stupid act. Dude has talent.' The blue-haired man laughed internally with amusement at the situation. He couldn't say he didn't like it, though. It gave him a lot of teasing material to treat his boredom.
As Saber was suffering from the threat of her food being taken away from her, Seth reached his room. Entering it the first thing he did was lie on his bed.
Truth be told, he had been feeling kind of lethargic since he touched the Holy Grail. "For all that is evil, I got a weird dream coming, I just know it."
To confirm his words, the moment he entered dreamland he found himself in a sand dune. Everything around him was repleted with massacred bodies, so much so that even the sand had turned red.
"It's been a long time, are you doing well, my spouse?" A voice Seth hated so much to the point that he almost went mad with rage came from below him.
From the sand, a beautiful woman with long dark-brown hair came out. The person in question had animal ears and a cat-like tail. She was wearing numerous pieces of jewelry as well as a dress-like black skirt. On top, she only sported an equally colored black cloth that covered her modest-sized breasts in a '^' pattern connecting to her neck.
"You have one second to change that appearance before I erase you from the face of the planet." Seth growled with uncharacteristic hatred as his eyes turned golden from the sheer rage he was repressing. The only thing that kept him in line was the knowledge that seeing him lose himself in rage was going to be something the new figure would probably enjoy.
"You are no fun. Aren't you happy to see your wife?" The woman asked before her appearance started to change. Now, only a white figure whose gender or features couldn't be recognized remained.
"I will only be happy to see Nephthys again the day I can see her drowning in a pool of her own blood not before making her kill what she holds the dearest with her own hands." Once the figure of the woman was no longer in his presence, his tone became less aggressive.
"I see. Then, let me introduce myself, God of a distant land. I'm the collective unconsciousness of mankind, Alaya." The figure started by saying its name. When it talked, it looked like hundreds of people were talking at the same time, both males and females, young and old.
Whatever Alaya wanted with him, Seth was going to find out soon.